/hob/ - Hobbies

The technology is there. Long battery life, easy on the eyes, read in bright daylight or dim candlelight.

Just know though that it's getting ever more difficult to put pirated or even freely distributed books on them. Amazon Kindle wants only their approved books to be readable on their devices, and for a cost. Amazon also has varying service from one country to the next, so what they advertise as available in one might not be available in yours.

Amazon has a nice selection of books but they track you everywhere you go I have some pretty persistent Amazon spyware on my computer. They are better than Google or whatever but that's not saying much.

>>58533
>>58533
Root the device and put custom firmware on it. Fuck amazon.

https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_Hacks_Information

>>58535
You would still be giving them money.
Why when there are so many other options on the market?

I got an InkPad and it's amazing. It's one of those things that I hate myself for not buying earlier because it's such a huge quality of life improvement. I can't believe I used to waste money on books or suffer through reading on a PC monitor

I have one I got years ago and it is completely useless now, whatever store or servers it was tied to are defunct and there's no way I can do anything with it unless someone made some custom firmware for it but I don't even care that much. Just stick to paper books or epub/pdf/whatever on your pc. This is just more "you don't actually own anything" type stuff where the company can just pull the plug and brick your device whenever they want.

i just use a really old shitty android phone and i download books to read on it via wifi

>>58533
I'm not gonna get an Amazon, mostly because I keep finding .epub's when Amazon only wants mobi.
I'm gonna try an Inkpad and either return it and root my Kindle.
Or I'll use the kindle for outdoors and worry less about damaging it because it's getting old and probably the battery isn't gonna last forever.

>>58560
Curious what you bought. I never used the Amazon store, never even had WiFi on, I could use the device just by putting stuff on it, sometimes with help of Calibre.

>>58564
some really old amazon kindle, I dont think it would even pair with my computer, though it was so old I didnt give it too much of a chance, I only assume newer devices are worse

>>58560
With the InkPad I got, you can just plug it into your pc with a usb cable and put whatever you want on it. Just dont get amazon scam shit

>>58562
The reading experience is very bad doing that. It's so uncomfortable that I cant do that for long. But ereaders are even better than books.

paper books are annoying to turn pages and to find good enough lighting. ereader works in the dark in bed etc

>>58565
>I only assume newer devices are worse
I have the one on the left, not a single problem other than it no taking epubs. Maybe I needed to register it or something? But don't remember it ever being an issue. Anyway newer devices that aren't amazon are just better than old ones. Backlight and other quality of life improvements.

>>58572
works fine for me

I guess I have a Paperwhite 2 version and it works fine. I wish I had bought it earlier. It's one of the best investments I've ever made.

>>58533
>>58563
You can just convert epubs to azw3 (or mobi) with Calibre. The conversion is usually perfect (unlike with PDFs).
>>58544
Amazon's Kindles are relatively cheap compared to other options. You give them money once and then you can pirate stuff as much as you like. Amazon probably makes most of its money by selling you ebooks, not by selling you the device.

>>58573
Use Calibre, it will auto convert books to you. Isn't perfect but it's good 95% of time.

I have PocketBook's Touch 2 model, bought somewhere in 2012-2013. Runs as smooth as new but that's mostly due to very scarce use; I probably operated it like 2 years worth of "average" use. Never really became a book man.
Connected it to wi-fi for the first time recently and it successfully updated.

What's curious is that I checked the model's price not long ago and it was like 3 times more expensive (~$100) than when I bought it. The firm was originally Ukrainian but then sold to the Swiss so that might be part of the case, but I think this also hints that the market is heavily regulated. The devices aren't pricy, but you're still overpaying plenty.

Anyways, yes they're great OP. Pretty much a must-have if you're into reading. Just stay away from large globohomo corporate crap like Amazon/Google (like, is it even necessary to say? what the fuck is wrong with people here buying from Amazon?) and pirate all your books from Z-Library or similar. Get every book in as much formats as available to never have trouble with readability.

Any e-readers that can do manga or should one stick to tablets for that?

>>58917
>Amazon's Kindles are relatively cheap compared to other options. You give them money once and then you can pirate stuff as much as you like. Amazon probably makes most of its money by selling you ebooks, not by selling you the device.
I dont believe this. Amazon has the brand name and popularity. Other devices that are more expensive are probably worth it and have better technology

>>58531
I am tempted to get one along with one of these new gp2x tier devices for emulation, or the libretro frontend using devices *gag* for emulation, and then to leave android as an option behind in some literal trashcan. I hate having android as a primary mobile device. Really ruins the go-bag as it's a spy machine and designed to break no less. Planned obsolescence.

It seems weird to get a device that can only read books but sometimes I like to read manga and manga on one of these would be ideal as they can read cbz I've read. A cheap android tablet would work but the cheap lcd's look bad from the side from what I've experienced and I don't want to keep buying an android to begin with.

It'd in my cart next to a device for opendingux. They can read books too. Bard can read txt aloud even, text to audio synthesis. It uses gcw-zero's opk files. I like well rounded computers and that's why I hate the libretro frontend retroarch/lakka/emuelec/etc route. Not well rounded. E-readers only do generally one thing as well, that and play music, but I generally don't listen to music myself.

If not for manga I'd not even consider the e-reader. They're pretty costly due to their daylight only screens. I really hate 'phones' though. Especially if i get some emuelec thing I'll be wanting the book reader. Then again debian can go on such devices with emuelec coming with it I've read, but do i really want to do that, switch out the sd's? A real debian distro would be overkill anyway.

But no, not yet, though it's been in and out of my cart for ages. I'm neet so I can't impulse buy.

By the way bard sounds bad though is still really cool to me that opendingux has that. I have an android apk that does that too, but they're so dystopian. It's got ads even, the one that worked well. I block them by having no sim card and disconnecting wifi, bus still….

On aliexpress they have fairly cheap e-ink readers. There are two models that I keep seeing showing up. They also show up on amazon. Image related is the model I have a feeling I'd buy, but not a kindle would I buy. They're closer to 50 usd than 100 on ali and under 100 on amazon I've seen.

>>59060
The bigger the screen/resolution the better. I haven't tried, but reading it on 6" screen is uncomfortable, bigger screens are highly advised.

>>59237
>daylight only screens
only the old ones, backlight and touchscreen is pretty standard feature nowadays.

I have a Fire tablet with a memory card and it's great for reading. With an app you are able to read pirated epubs and you can also put on pdfs. Even if you decide you want to watch movies on it, the image and picture are crisp too.

>>59060
If you search for cbz reader (my manga is in cbz format) that shows up with some results of what an e-ink reader can handle as a file format, so I'd assume yes. That's the only reason I even think they are worth it myself.

>>59238
Manga is normally pretty small though…

>>59239
The cheap Chinese ones that I look at probably won't have that, not that it matters as having some light next to you is not hard even if it were very dark. It'd make the 'feels like real paper' experience better I figure. I was thinking of getting a book cover that looks/feels like a real book's cover even.

>>59242
At least Kindle I had made it feel a bit hard to read/blurry. I bought an Inkpad and it feels much more crisp while having a bigger screen too.

I just use a cheap android tablet for reading e-books and the like. Never had any compatibility issues, and I read a lot and have tested many different file formats.

An Android tablet is far more versatile too than these e-reader devices. I think I spent about $200 on mine around 5 years ago and it still works well (they're probably cheaper nowadays). I got so much use out of it that the faux-leather case is literally falling apart from wear.

They're really useful for traveling anywhere too since they're a compact form of near-limitless entertainment, and you can use it for basic computing tasks like email, online shopping, or internet browsing. They can also be comfy for watching TV in bed.

I'll definitely be buying another one once my current one eventually dies. Also, I would look into refurbished devices instead of buying new.

>>58531
>go tired of windows shopping

Well, I posted in the thread already but what I'd like to ask is:

I'm sick of lurking around wondering, is there a device with e-ink that is not android that has no restrictions and can read cbz (and has text to audio synthesis) of which is the size of a typical manga and costs a bit under or around 100 usd?

They have weird offbrand Chinese ones that show up then immediately get bought, then show up on another seller, unless on ali, so with how much of an unfortunate bum I am I figured I'd just go ahead and ask someone.

About hacking, I figure would hacking brick it? Won't android's, though recommended, try to control you and also have planned obsolescence in their software design, even hardware design?

I've already used calibre to make all books txt so I can read them on any shabby device and even have my pocketgo v1 reading to me (that's a gp2x sort of thing, for emulation of old consoles really but it has text reading capability and text to audio) randomly (sounds bad really but it's a cool device to me anyway and it can show the text of course though it's a bit small for even normal reading I'd figure) but honestly manga I've never had a convenient small device for as tablets look bad when cheap on their sides in portrait mode.

Well, my overall point is that I know nothing about the weird offbrand ones if they often have no actual title but have a familiar hardware design. Do they have stores? They claim to have real e-ink and can read cbz, some claim it, but I just don't know.

The two types I keep staring at are this one and preferably this one as they come up a lot and that second ones seems to claim cbz and the other generally does not claim to be able to do it. I take it they are both bad but still. I assume they are both terrible in some way? These two designs that have no specific title nor name?

Also I don't like the idea of a touch screen.

I'm thinking that the pocketbook might be my best option and lurked enough to see someone claim most can do cbz? I'm reading and pondering ereaders_101, the wiki link, right now. It mentions not cbz in it though is nice to see.

I'm tempted to get an ancient barnes and noble one and forgo cbz as they can be dirt cheap and on their last legs but that'd be silly all things considered. I'd probably not…. actually probably not even if remade to be new. Cbz is kinda the whole point for me and cheap android tablets would seem best but last I tried that I needed to wear an eyepatch like a/as (a) pirate as they look bad on their sides due to cheaper lcd's, android tablets I've had. Also, again, they break easy. That and as add as I am, even if okay with being spied upon and such, really I'm not going to read if it can do anything other than reading, or manga viewing if that is not to be called reading, whatever, just as I'd not read for long on a tiny pocketgo v1 as it's going to tempt me to play games on it.

I don't really care about battery life also, though I figure that's an appeal, I have battery banks and solar panels stocked up, though it indeed lasting long would make me slightly less distracted by a constant wondering of the batteries percentage.

Also I know I could make it myself (the 'pi' soc route) but it'd be a terrible experience with how ham-handed I am and it'd not end up…sleek… even if it did work as a book reader. Is there a book reader OS I'm not aware of though that is not android for a pi (,or whatever name of system on a chip)? What do they do? Come with the driver for the e-ink? I'd not though, the last time I tried to make an umpc due to lack of funding I forwent trying a second (third really, but this post is too long as it is) try. It involved a cigar box that ended up quite demolished and the glue wasn't sticking on top of my having only a knife and drill to work with…I'm not in the mood to contemplate it in any case. I spent far too much on peripherals as it is to never use them for that rather failed experiment. I should buy lots of polymer clay but then that would harm the wallet when other priorities take precedence and I only get at most 400 usd per year, 200 at a time. I have another device I would like to get rather than just a book reader, hence the limit being half and half (yes it is a playgo (or perhaps an rg280v (or maybe an odroid-go-adance (or one of it's clones)))).

tl;dr: see run-on sentence at the top asking if there are cheap no restriction cbz readers basically that are not android.

>>59293
>this one
>preferably this one
For got to link the sites, but it's whatever, one was >>59237 that image of which claims cbz. I wonder how bad they are?

I'm surprised the PineNote hasn't been brought up yet.

https://www.pine64.org/2021/08/15/introducing-the-pinenote/

>>58572
Pretension costs real money, I have a 2$ kindle (idk thrift store prices, even came with a case) and I still read far more books on my phone.
> But ereaders are even better than books.
How do you read like this? For me the serendipity of a bookshelf is something I need for most of kill-time reading.

>>58531
Use one that reads pdf or txt and can be read offline.